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Hard-throwing Dominguez called up to bolster bullpen

Hard-throwing Dominguez called up to bolster bullpen

By Ken Gurnick and Austin Laymance
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MLB.com |

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers needed a fresh arm in their bullpen on Saturday, so they promoted Jose Dominguez from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Dominguez is known for his fastball, which can reach 103 mph. He began the season with Double-A Chattanooga before moving up to Albuquerque. Dominguez, 22, has struck out 40 in 25 1/3 innings in the Minor Leagues this season.

"He's been known to clock the gun pretty good," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "It looks like he's around the plate. He's got a pretty good slider, uses his changeup some. He's got more than just [velocity]."

The Dodgers needed a fresh arm because the bullpen picked up 4 1/3 innings on Friday. Peter Moylan pitched two innings, and was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Dominguez, who last pitched Thursday.

Dominguez served a 25-game suspension at the start of the season for violating baseball's drug policy. He was also given a 50-game suspension in 2009 after testing positive for performance enhancers.

While Dominguez did not begin the year on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers had an open spot after designating infielder Luis Cruz for assignment on Friday when outfielder Scott Van Slyke was activated from the disabled list.

Dominguez is making his first trip to the Major Leagues.

"I'd like to be able to use him in a position that's not totally stressful right away," Mattingly said.

Moylan appeared in 10 games after being promoted from Triple-A on May 31 and was 1-0 with a 6.35 ERA.

The Dodgers still don't have a long reliever in their bullpen. As a result, they needed two innings from Moylan on Friday after starter Chris Capuano was unable to make it out of the fourth inning. Matt Guerrier pitched 1 1/3 innings and Brandon League pitched the eighth before second baseman Skip Schumaker fired a scoreless ninth.

"There's been a couple games that it would have been nice to have that true long man," Mattingly said.

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. Austin Laymance is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.